Around the World in 30 Days

Crossover’s gamified, globe-hopping hiring tour has discovered a new cohort of tech talent — welcoming 90 candidates to the Crossover community in April alone.

What started out as an innovative way to identify highly skilled software developers in untapped international tech hubs has grown into a full-fledged recruiting initiative. Crossover Hiring Tournaments now connect candidates with a range of remote roles (both technical and managerial), including chief and software architect, software engineering manager (SEM), and technical product manager (TPM) positions.

This April, Crossover held eight tournaments across three continents. During the weekend of April 1 and 2, four tournaments (Warsaw, Poland; Timișoara, Romania; St. Petersburg, Russia; Istanbul, Turkey) resulted in 30 winners. Events in Moscow, Russia, and Bucharest, Romania, on April 22 brought 32 more potential partners into the Crossover community. The month’s events wrapped up in Łódź, Poland, and Cairo, Egypt, with 28 winners.

Challenge accepted: The motivation of live competition and real-time rankings

Sorin Zavelita, Crossover’s country general manager for Romania, explained the benefits of Crossover’s competitive hiring concept in a recent article on LinkedIn:

“I noticed that live competition generates much higher energy and motivation among the participants than online tests. A challenging contest where you can prove your technical skills and see how you rank against colleagues in the same location — and possibly get an offer for a fully remote job — is extremely appealing.”

Crossover has designed these competitions to be as beneficial as possible for all participants. Tournament competitors get instant feedback on their work and the unique opportunity to push their skills further — working against the clock on complex technical problems.

It’s our hope that all tournament participants — whether they get a job offer or not — will leave with a better understanding of their abilities (not to mention a nice addition to their resumes or CVs).

Inside the competition

Hear from some of the event organizers and contestants at the Łódź tournament: